My momma

Please indulge me while I brag on my momma for a moment (she will probably be horrified at me for doing this!).  I’ve always wished I could draw or have an ounce of creative or artistic talent…but I don’t.  I can hardly draw a straight line and my stick figures are no more impressive than what Thomas and his classmates can do.  But my mother has long been talented (with art, sewing, flowers, gardening…whatever).  I wish it had rubbed off on me.

When Pete and I were little bitty, she was a mom and an artist.  But when we got older and Andrew went to school (kindergarten), we tease her that she got a “real job” and she stayed there (from 1986) until she retired a few years ago (has it really been almost three years?  Or is it two?).  She worked so hard (and was quite good at that too), but between the job and being a mom, the art fell by the wayside.  Luckily, the talent did not. 

In her retirement she has started painting again and I know she is enjoying it and I love seeing what she does.  She took some pictures of the boys last year (summer 2010) when we went to Edisto one day to visit my Aunt Jane.  In one Parker was playing ball with a dog on the beach.  Anyway, she ended up painting it and finished it recently.  We now have it hanging in our front hallway and I cannot wait for her to do something else for us (hopefully a portrait of Thomas)!  I have to share it (though the photo doesn’t do it justice):

Click on it to make it bigger…  The only way I could possibly love it more would be if that dog was ours…but even so, I love, love, love it. :)  Thank you Mom!

Thanksgiving 2011

This year it was time for Thanksgiving in Pinopolis.  My brother and his family came down from Canada (and my other brother and I (and our families) made the long trip from Charleston).  The boys are always so excited to see their cousins.  It’s so great to see how they all just kind of pick up where the left off and they are great buddies.  Sadly we only all get together about once a year, but we try to make the most of the time we have!

It’s so funny how much time the children spent on iPads, iPhones and laptop computers.  My how times have changed!

We had two 14 pound-ish turkeys (and organic at that…ha ha). Because that’s what eight adults and six children need – two pounds of turkey each.  :)

While waiting for dinner, the kids were entertained by rides on the golf cart…

Instead of taking a picture before we ate, I only took a picture afterwards.  There was a little bit left…

After dinner, we headed outside to ride bikes, play and make room for dessert…

And then it was time for the dessert that has become a much-expected and thoroughly enjoyed tradition….Taffy’s Banana Cake (yes, it deserves caps as a proper noun).  I scream, you scream, we all scream for BANANA CAKE!!!!

Yum, yum…it’s so delicious.  I could almost eat this picture. 

It took a serious amount of marching to work that off.  Ha ha.

Soon it was time for a bedtime story… and Thomas was able to read the stories to his cousins.

The next morning it was the day of the Carolina/Clemson football game.  We didn’t go, but we prepared to watch it that night (after the kiddos were in bed).  But to get in the spirit, I pulled out some old pom-poms I had saved from past football games years and years ago (the small free kind they used to hand out regularly).  I never dreamed those would be such a hit (and a source for distress!), but the kids had fun with them.

After everyone got dressed, it was time for more outdoor play.  It was a beautiful weekend.

Parker & Katherine decided to try and let go of the training wheels and ride on two tires.  They both had success!

Sweet Lauren cheered from the sidelines…

The boys were dressed and ready in support of the Gamecocks (and they won, for the third year in a row…by the way). 

Katherine was working hard on that bike riding!

Parker finally managed to look at the camera…

It was a great weekend, but the time passed far too quickly – as usual.  The boys can’t wait to get together with all of their cousins again.  Perhaps we need to get passports for the boys and head to Canada (though let’s wait for the snowy season to end first!). 

Charlestowne Landing field trip

The one thing we’ve learned about kindergarten this year is that you have a lot of field trips.  Today Thomas’ class went to Charlestowne Landing and I got to be a chaperone.  It was a beautiful day, but we did a lot of walking and it was an exhausting day too!  Still, I was happy to be able to spend the day with Thomas and his classmates!

All of the kindergarten classes from his school were there (five of them, I think).  Each class wears a different color school shirt when they go on field trips.  I’m so glad Thomas’ is not the orange class.  ;-)  I like red so much better!

Our class took the long walk down to the boat first. 

We walked back up and had a picnic lunch, then toured the museum inside the main building (no pics because I was too busy trying to corral rowdy kids).  Then we headed back outside and through the animal forest.  The otters were sleeping, but the bear was out and awake…

We also saw bison, turkeys and deer (and elk from afar).  All in all it was a great day and I was glad to be there (and glad to put my feet up when it was all done!).

Unexpected visit with Santa

To close out an eventful weekend that included Citadel Homecoming events, Thomas’ final soccer game and a Citadel football game, after lunch on Sunday we strolled down King Street to enjoy Second Sunday (when they close the streets off to cars from 12-sometime late in the afternoon from Calhoun to Queen Streets. 

The weather was especially lovely, Nana & Umpa were still in town and it was just a wonderful day.  To top it all off, we heard rumblings that Santa had stopped by to enjoy it too.  The boys were excited…was it really him?  They soon found that it was!

Actually it was really funny…  We waited in line for a few minutes (he was taking such a long time with the children…it was so sweet) and when it was time for the boys’ turn, Santa said he needed a quick break to stretch his legs.  I thought the boys were going to get impatient quickly, but then Santa engaged them and asked if they wanted to learn how to properly say “Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!” just like Santa.

You put your hands on your belly, take a deep breath in…and then let out the breath while saying the magic words from deep within your belly…

The boys didn’t take their eyes off of him and listened to his every word and piece of advice.  It was so cute.

Then it was time to sit with the big guy…

Santa asked them what they wanted.  Thomas told him all about some double shooting (Nerf) gun he has been eyeing out of the ToysRUs catalog.  Parker, on the other hand, was much more interested in immediate gratification.    He saw a bag of small candy canes in the sleigh and every time Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas, he just emphatically said, “A CANDY CANE!”  Ha!  Wouldn’t it be great if that’s all it took!

We certainly weren’t expecting to see Santa, but I’m glad we did (and so were the boys).  While I’m generally not in favor of talking too much about Christmas before we’ve even celebrated Thanksgiving, we were most thankful to see Santa taking a little Charleston break before he gears up for his big day!

Giggle

Sometimes I find things the boys leave behind and for one reason or another, they make me laugh.  Like this:

One of the greatest gifts of having children is that they constantly give you reasons to smile.